LETTERS
LETTERS Under False Colors? To the Editor: WE undersigned, members of the Committees of the American Association for a Democratic Germany, wish to answer the "Open Letter" from Gerhart Soger and...
...As the controlling body of the Association, the Executive Committee formulates policies and conducts meetings iu the accepted de mora tic manner...
...tnd 1933, were busily engaged in working for the violent overthrow of the democratic German Republic...
...The Communists play a very important role in it...
...These people take their public responsibilities seriously and are conversant with political questions- before taking a public stand...
...Elisabeth Hauptmann has always served st Secretary of the organisation...
...This reluctance has very iittls to do with his many names, or the fact that during the twelve years of his residence in Germany as an active member of the Communist Party he participated in Communist maneuvers against German democracy...
...We did not accuse the Associstion for s Democratic Germany, but the Communists, of operating "under false colors...
...It is a matter of characterisation, and not of "connections," aa mentioned by Dr...
...8eger make several points which, in the interests of brevity, we shall summarize and answer: 1—Tkt American committee {including tixtg-fivt member* of our Executive and National Committees, headed by Denn Carte.«™ ??*·», Dr...
...The same logic would compel the Association to endorse the "Seydlitx-Pieck Committee' in Moscow likewise...
...We respect his political opinions and his Integrity...
...The details may be read in the published report of the judges...
...The Committee members of the American Association are aware of this snd believe that under present conditions in Europe, political realism demands that liberals and Socialists accept, even if reluctantly, the political necessity of cooperating with Co.ienunists in the resistance movements...
...5— Never Again Weimar" Here ths signer* hsv* misresd our reference...
...If such a democratic Council, however, accepts as members the outspoken enemies of democracy, total i-tarians and anti-democrats, it commits a kind of crime against democratic ideals...
...8— The Council ia dominated by ite Communist members...
...Reference to old generalities, of course, cannot suffice...
...And that is just the point we made...
...However, it is implicit in the political character of the Council that that body hopes the new German democracy will avoid the weaknesses from which the Weimar Republic suffered...
...Some of us have known him for many years...
...thst is why such a Council is lopsided...
...Seger that unfounded accusation gad elender hu implication are not constructive weapons in political debate among liberals, and that the causa of a demo, cratic Germany is not furthered by their methods...
...Soger snd Kats point out, the American Association does not Include Communist representation...
...And the American endorsers innocently—nobody doubts their democratic idealism— become accomplices...
...Hollingsworth Wood Clarity—Not Confusion...
...Whoever presents the argument that the Communists could be overruled, proves only that he either dom not understand the issue involved—in which case be should keep away from international politics— or that he wants to evade the real problem...
...7—Mr...
...That three persons of Communist sympathies should control a body of some twenty mature persons of considerable political experience is to ascribe superman qualities to the three...
...H?gen's "aliases" are a badge of honor, not a disgrace, it will interest readera of The New Leader tot know that the name Paul Hagen waa suggested to hiba by the late B. Charnay Vladock who first invited him to come to the United States to seek help for the German underground in 1985...
...Its only task can be to stand, like similar groups in USA, for s principle...
...They hold no offices and art not in a position of domination...
...Frank-Hagen will not be accepted by those Americans and Germans » who know the facts...
...David F. Seiftrheld), have lent their support to sn organisation which la merely a letterhead covering up activities and furthering policies ef the Council for a Democratic Germany of which they are entirely ignorant...
...W. Look Clara Letter Alfred G. Baker Lewie James Loeb, Jr...
...If in some future moment the necessity of action in the German field should arise, any democratic action by such persons will be valueless then, because Communist participation has discredited th* Council...
...Goethe...
...The silencing of democratic criticism of Russia's foreign policy was one of the very reasons why the Moscow center has given orders to its sections abroa^ to create and participate in "united front" groups...
...Even one single Communist—the exponent of a great power—could not be outvoted in the Council by the others...
...appreciate the fact that our questions hsve been answered...
...unr By «HRH4RT M. SfMft mad RUDOLF KATZ "Den Teufel tpiirt dot V?lkchen nie, Und wenn er tie beim Kragtn h?tte...
...This statement it not true...
...The answer given confirms practically all the charges we presented...
...4—The secretary of the Council is a German Com-msmiet, Albert Sckreiner...
...We know Psul H?gen...
...Hiram Motherwell end Mr...
...4—Too ContatM.af Albmrt Schrelmor atS Secretory The Council's Bulletin recently reported thst s ttetr...
...We are informed that not a tingle meeting of the committee* of th* Association has taken place since it* launching...
...It has here at present an ideological teak only...
...Beinhold Niekuhr, Uiee Doroth...
...It, too, fights Hitler...
...Are the participating Communists "new converts to democracy" or not ? We believe it the duty of the responsible officers of the Associstion to see to it that such a misleading leaflet should not be used...
...Mr...
...If dissension should develop, the Council would be dissolved...
...Nobody hat denied the sincerity or the democratic intention of the Association members...
...I— The Council ie a "front-organisation" whose msm~ berthip includes Communists...
...These gentlemen may not know that in underground work it it customary to adopt various names, as protection...
...To suggest that a stable democratic Germany can be created exactly in the image of the former Republic is status ?uoism at its worst, and surely cannot be encouraged in liberal circles...
...Today, this same movement ie trying to obstruct the return of Germany to a democratic form of republican government with a new slogan: 'Never again Weimar.' It it not the Republic of Weimar—with her guarantees for fundamental human rights and the four freedoms—but rather the 'higher democracy' of the Russian Soviet system which these peoples see ss their political ideal...
...An American association—with a practical task her* —could perhaps engage in this kind of "Realpolitik...
...The French Socialist Party, after its experiences underground snd sines liberation, has adopted a similar policy...
...Hagen ia not likely to be duped by Communists" ia not only naive, it ia absurd...
...ing committee of four members hat boon elected, among them the Communist Albert Schreiner...
...The Council has by silence endorsed the Soviet foreign policy in regard to cession of German territories in the East and hae never differentiated iteelf from the Free Germany Committee in Moscow, The Council'a initial Declaration of Policy states its unequivocal opposition to any dismemberment of Germany...
...It is an unintelligent action, moreover, because the only winners actually ere th* Communists...
...A email New York emigre group has no influenc* on th* underground fight in Europe...
...Tillich...
...The members of the "Association"—aa w* pointed out very clearly—are not the deceivers but the deceived...
...Robert M. Mad ver Frank W, MeCulloch Reinhold Niebuh, William Allan Nsilson Wilhelm Pauck Lemie ?. Rabinowttt Florence Reieenstein Victor Reuther David r. Seiferhsld Dorothy Thompson Carl Hermann Voss J. Raymond Walsh James A. Wechsler Walter F. Willoek I...
...The question remains: of whst use is a "democratic German Council" if it does not take any stand on the actual and urgent political problems of German democracy...
...We presume that Mr...
...We know that he ia neither a Communist, nor · likely to be duped by Communists, but a man who has hsd the coursge to be independent snd Aght for his convictions...
...Kats und Mr...
...Its secretary is Albert Schreiner, a long-time Communist functionary...
...Many a Saulus has become a Paulus...
...How then could it happen that even committee members of the Association .Hfl not know ? The leaflet speaks everywhere of "democrats...
...The anti-democratic charge is too idiotic to answer is the statements, actions snd membership of the Council demonstrate...
...Never Again fVttmar...
...Every single parson, with out any corresponding power behind him, is certainly bound to be duped by the Communists in the end...
...2—Uultod Front Groops Horo ?ad Democracy While excluding the Communists from its own ranks, th* Association thinks it necessary that its sponsored German sub-organization—the Council—must have the benefit of Communiat participation...
...Ia the United States the aitua-tioa is different end, as the Daily Worker and Messrs...
...The very leaflet quoted makes this absolutely clear in an earlier passage specifying that the Council includes "persons affiliated with all the major non-Nazi and non-nationalist political movements in Germany...
...Schreiner* function is thst of the steering committee's secretary...
...R— The Misleading Propaganda Leaflet The explanation that the story of Communist participation in the Council has been truthfully told in the leaflet—if not directly, so "by implication"—is obviously insufficient...
...In the correspondence columns of The New Leader of May 20, 1944, Professor Tillich, Chairman of the Council, reiterated the complete independence of his organisation, stating that it had no connection with other free Germany committees anywhere...
...Hagen in 1941 ran away from an impartial Committee of Investigation instituted in New York at his own request...
...A propaganda leaflet ia quoted as evidence...
...On the -ontrary, at the Association believes that the broadly representative character of the Council is basic to its effectiveness, it has proclaimed this fact widely, repeatedly In news releases to the press and in widely circulated statements of its officers...
...Frank-Hagen The clean bill of health given to Mr...
...No explanation has been given of the revealing fact that even tome committee members of the Association hitherto have not known that they were endorsing, among the "democratic" German emigres, a group of German Communists...
...Janus Luther Adams Roger N. Baldwin . John C. Bennett * C. M. Deetlsr Ethan K, Edlof Emanuel Eleton William Emerson Christian Gauss Mary Jaynt Gold Mortimer Hay* Hanna Hafkeshrink Robert Heckert Ben W. Huebteh Herme* M. Kalla» John A. Lapp Trud...
...But the realities of life are often not in accord with fine principle...
...The bold assertion that "Mr...
...Fsr more Important than personal questions, however, are the political issues involved...
...To the Editor: WE undersigned, members of the Committees of the American Association for a Democratic Germany, wish to answer the "Open Letter" from Gerhart Soger and Rudolf Kats in your issue of January ?, accusing the Association of operating "under false colors...
...A great totalitarian power like Russia, intelligent and ruthless, is so vastly superior to a single individual that just the opposite axiom ia true...
...The, officers are not persons accustomed to deception in political leader-skip...
...Katz and to Mr...
...3—The Communltf Minority and fhe Councils fo/ley There are more than three Communist members in the Council, and some fellow-travelers besides...
...7—Th* American Association for a Democratic Germany conceal* the fact that Communist participate m the Council for a Democratic Germany which it sponsor...
...It has to stand ae the symbol of an ideology, for the belief in democracy...
...Realising that tome evidence had turned out rather unfavorably for him, he wanted to avoid a decision and fled...
...They ought to know...
...Such "political expediency" is worse than the "Derlen" and "Btdoglio" desls, becsuse here not even the excuse of an immediate practical gain exists...
...8—A great conepiracy is found in ths feet that Paul H?gen, chairman .of the liaison commitee of the Council to the Association, hae b*sn known under several name* and in the fact that his wife ia teoretary of the American , ?eto«ittifB,: t Carefully avoiding factual statements Mestri Kail unci Seger imuly skulduggery on Hagen't part...
...Thompson, Dr...
...Whst remains is chiefly a difference of opinion...
...I—Lorforaeorf or Debating OrootWiofioe...
...Members of the Council inform us thst Mr...
...The Communist "Free Germans" in Mexico (see Freiet Deutschland, Jsnuary, 1945) rightfully put the New York Council into the same category as th* Moscow and London Free Germany committees...
...That Hagen's wife, Mim Anna Capias, should be secretary of the American Association and should share her husband's political viewpoint seems to us neither remarkable nor evidence of a "plot" Wo Imp* that it will become clear to Mr...
...In the case of the Council, that policy has fully succeeded...
...Kats and Mr...
...John Lapp, Mr...
...It names other German political parties, while purposely avoiding mention of the Communist Party...
...A German democratic group in Chicago recently tried in vain to get such a specific declaration...
...O—Toe SHamt "CooocJf" and Of ber "Free Germany" Committees There cannot be the least doubt that Communist participation has completely silenced the Council, pre-venting it from taking any stand on the present important German issues...
...The reason given—that all anti-Nazis have to cooperate in resistance movements in Europe—is not convincing...
...This statement is both absurd and offensive...
...As for being anti-Weimar, surely no such slogsn has been coined...
...But this ia not the point...
...To the contrary: It even,, verbally repudiates "new converts to democracy...
...Luigi Antonim, just back from Italy, recently explained in the columns of The New Leader why he agreed with the decision ef the Italian Socialists to cooperate with Italian Communists...
...The Council ie "trying to obstruct the return of Germany t* a democratic form ef government" and has promulgated a new slogan...
...Obviously, we referred to th* Communists within the Council...
...The Communists are the only ones who represent power, the others being powerless political emigres...
...That kind of logic is hard to follow...
...Quite a number of others belong to the 'Council' who, between 191...
...We stated: "The 'Council for a Democratic Germany' it a so-called 'united front' group within German political emigre circles...
...Soger refer to the fact that the Council ia ssmpcood ef persons of varying political orientation, extending from liberal snd Catholic Center, Social Democrat, independent Socialist to Communist...
...A genuinely democratic German council could not...
Vol. 28 • January 1945 • No. 4
